To all our parents and students,
As we come to the end of September, I want to say that our return to school has been a rewarding one.
We welcome our new junior infants to Ms Brophy’s class and Ms Owens class . It gives me great pleasure to meet you all every morning. Special welcome to our new families who have joined us in classes throughout the school, the Dunne, Donnan, Mc Guire, Moran, Wall and Small families who are now a part of the St Anne’s community.
We were delighted to be able to celebrate the sacraments of First Communion and Confirmation over the past weeks. I want to congratulate everyone involved as you had a long wait. It was especially heartening to see grandparents present for the event.
Our GAA coach, Kelly, is back working with 5th and 6th class at the moment; classes from infants to 2nd are going gymnastics classes and 4th classes are busy on Mondays doing cycling. At the moment, we have no plans to do swimming or to take on after-school activities/clubs; we await further updates on same from the Department of Education.
Well done to everyone on how you have taken current Covid restrictions on board and have observed the guidelines. Some students are absent with Covid at the moment and I want to wish you all well and we will see you soon.
There have been changes to restrictions from the 27th as you know and this means that automatic contact tracing of asymptomatic close contacts (children in school) will no longer take place, with the exception of special education settings. Close contacts in a family setting do restrict movements and follow HSE advice.
We will continue to monitor children and in the event of any symptoms shown, we will contact parents to bring children home. In this event we ask that you contact your GP for advice on testing and that children remain at home until symptom free (generally 48 hours). We appreciate your co-operation in keeping children who are not well at home also. If we all work on this together, it will make a difference to the school community and keep more people safe. Routines of ventilation and hand hygiene continue in school.
You may be aware that there will be changes on staff over the coming weeks. Firstly, Ms Lennon will be retiring at the end of this week. Ms Lennon has given many years’ service to St Anne’s and I want to acknowledge her huge contribution to the children and to staff development in her time here. We will mark her departure on Friday and hope that she will always remain a part of our school.
We also want to let you know that Tony, our caretaker, will be retiring from the end of October. He has made an immense contribution to school life, from car parks to field maintenance and is so well respected by all. We will mark this occasion on the week coming up to Hallowe’en.
There are a number of events coming up over the coming weeks:
- Student Council elections. There is great excitement across the school around the elections and I am so glad to see so many getting involved. I look forward to working with the council going forward and hearing their suggestions
- Halloween Dress-up day will be on Friday October 22nd , the last day before mid-term. I’m sure there will be some really creative costumes!
- Goal Jersey Day is on October 8th next- all are invited to wear in a jersey of choice on day (though it is not compulsory) and to give a donation to Goal if possible (€2 suggestion)
We are delighted to have been given a donation to install some additional yard equipment including climbing frames and wooden beams. They are used for children on movement breaks and also classes have had opportunities to try them out.
We are exploring the possibility of putting a path around our field and will come back to you with updates on that. In the meantime, we will be organising ‘wellington days’ for classes so that they can access the field when it is wet (teachers will let you know when this is happening for your child’s class)
A few reminders
- Uniform– I am delighted to see children in full uniform- keep this up everyone! A reminder that tracksuit are worn on PE days only. PE day may change from time to time to facilitate other school activities eg if hall is in use for photos for example or if other activities, such as gymnastics, are being arranged for a particular day. Teachers will give you notice of this as soon as possible.
- School Policies
Please check in on the school website- Information for Parents section. There you will find a number of policies for your information.
I want to draw your attention , in particular, to the Child Safeguarding documents and also the Covid Response documents.
Finally, thanks to the PSG for their support in events so far this year. As you know they are running the clothes collection this week and would welcome any old clothes etc for same. All the money received is put to good use in the school and is very much appreciated. On that note, a reminder to anyone who has paid the School Contribution of €250 or more, you might consider gifting the tax relief to the school. For more on this, please contact the school office.
Thank you for your ongoing support of all that is going on in school. As always, please contact us if you wish to discuss any matter with us.
I wish you and your family safe and happy days over the coming weeks.
Best wishes,
M Manley